Thursday, March 18, 2010

Covers? On a Thursday night? Yup - and there will be a quiz

According to the Tom Waits Library this is Tom’s most-covered song. More than Ol’ 55 or Downtown Train. It's from Rain Dogs, and the Cover Me blog has tracked down a cover for each song on the album. Like the Dylan below, covers bring Waits' songwriting to greater light.

One of the people in this song runs with scissors. The other spends a lifetime on the sidelines watching people run with scissors. Which are you?
...Shaye was a Canadian pop-rock band who dropped from sight after two albums. The original is by Ireland's Sinéad Lohan, who ... dropped from sight after two albums. Motherhood, sigh.
Superb song which may not have been done to its full potential yet.

Timeless songs should be, well, timeless. An 1968 Oscar winner for Noel Harrison from The Thomas Crown Affair, it is given a new outlook - love the latin elements - by Scottish singer Sharleen Spiteri (ex of the band Texas; bonus track Sleep ) on her second solo album, The Movie Songbook. It's a labour of love for her and I was lukewarm at first (too Olivia Newton John in places), but it's becoming a keeper.

er, Tin, that's his own song. Hey, good spot! This is where an an inviting cover (by Sinéad Lohan, with more Latin treats) can raise the standing of the original. Listening to Lohan after finding No Mermaid, her Ramona sent me scurrying to hear a song I did not know, and I was astounded by the fullness of the lyrics. It's still too 'old nasally Dylan' for me musically, but too lightweight without him. Maybe I should stop listening to Dylan and just read him.

This is not so much a cover as a piss take. How many bands does he spoof? Comments below.
.... Watch for Mr Andy (too clever, not) Clockwise, though. Roguish charm generally only gets you so far, but this Austrailian comic turned (self-procliamed) pop star may be poised to take over the world on chutzpah alone.
Many will tell you this album (Are You Well?) is too frivolous to buy; I disagree. Bonus: The Socialite (with Lissie), well up on my songs of 2010 list.

Something to wind down with and echo the Latin scents above.

29 comments:

Makinavaja said...

A list is up- No real surprises.
Next topic (if we are to believe Rob) is Songs with sound effects.

Angry of West Yorkshire said...

THREADJACK - MIDNIGHT A-LIST IS UP.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/mar/18/readers-recommend-midnight-songs

AC/DC's Night Prowler has gone from shoo-in to nowhere, and now it's an M.O. You'd better have a f**kin' good excuse, RobF, for why that's missed and GSH's off-topic-by-several-hours song is in.

To say I'm boiling mad, folks, is the understatement of the year so far.

Chris said...

They actually shot a video for that Garcia/Grisman song, which is quite fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKvDtWeyO5c

nilpferd said...

You're joking, right, Rich?

Tinny- I've done some research and I'm ready for the quiz. The answer is.. um... Dylan.

Blimpy said...

Is the answer "that all the characters are named after members of the Rolling Stones"?

tincanman said...

Boss is always right!
(Spiteri was the one who took on Shylock in The Merry Wives of Merchants in Penzance, wasn't it?)

nilpferd said...

Shoot. I hate the Stones.
Sorry, boss- I mean, I hate stones. Like, rocks. But I love rock. and Roll. And especially Rolling Stones.

tincanman said...

I've missed something re DsD post - sorry I just saw the A list link the other night and went to get the folders set up and didn't read further.
''Night Prowler has gone from shoo-in ...''
Rob said it was a shoo-in? I'm confused.

tincanman said...

So you aren't the one to call if I want to gather (Kate) Moss

nilpferd said...

Au contraire, Tin. I prefer the stones which just, like, stand still. And gather lichen.

tincanman said...

ah, I heard you. I've been lichen them myself for years.

nilpferd said...

*pictures tinny with his tongue trapped under a rolling stone*

tincanman said...

I knew Mariane Faithful and I had something in common

nilpferd said...

What? I can't understand you.. just let me roll this stone to one side..

woah.

Look on the bright side- you'll wipe the floor with the opposition in those "touch the end of your nose" contests. (And you'll be able to lick it clean afterwards without bending your knees)

tincanman said...

Guess we'd better quit our tomfoolery and leave this to all the people wanting to comment on the musical selections.

nilpferd said...

OK.. but roll your tongue in, at least..
A friend sent me the Michel Legrand soundtrack to the 1968 Thomas Crown Affair, which is a great film, though I confess I always found the Windmills song irritating. But it might just be that I can't shake the image of the Muppet show version.

tincanman said...

A lot of recording careers were killed by the Muppets. Once they'd done the ultimate version, way pay to hear an inferior original?

I for one refused to pay attention when my teacher read the alphabet once I'd heard Ernie do it.

nilpferd said...

Are you kidding?! That was the moment I realised the Muppets were just puppets- they had some set up with
revolving legs. It was so humiliating- I never watched another show after that.

tincanman said...

RIP Jim Henson
20 years up Kermit's butt and he dies of AIDS. Who saw that coming?

nilpferd said...

You've written that before.. I bet if I google it, I'll find another spill post..

tincanman said...

oops
Is my delivery getting any better?

nilpferd said...

Well, I remembered the last time.. write the same thing in 3 months, and see if I remember it then.

tincanman said...

what thing?

nilpferd said...

ummm...

richardrj said...

Not sure why DarceysDad is so upset about the omission of AC/DC from the list. We all have noms that we are convinced fit the theme better than anything and should really be included, last week for me it was the Divine Comedy's, um, divine "Ten Seconds to Midnight", it didn't make the ten but it was no biggie. Not enough to boycott the board for a week, I would have thought, but each to their own of course.

Plus, to be honest, the ten has to fit the Guardian's core readership/demographic in some way and, let's face it, AC/DC don't do that whereas Gil Scott Heron does.

saneshane said...

as one of the Guardian's core readership/demographic.. I'd like it be known that AC/DC (2nd band I EVER saw live) and GSH (often disappointing- but glad to have him back) are filed under the same "they interest me" section...

..being kinda liberal leaning , I wouldn't like to make sweeping statements about the rest of the papers readership.... although they are probably sandal wearing tofu munching lefties.... shit!

DarceysDad said...

Spot on there, I'm afraid, richard. My extra problem, if you like, is the continued cold shoulder given to the music type - heavy rock - that forms the base of my musical taste, and it's getting beyond a joke.

Talking of which, thanks, nilpferd, for the virtual restraining, calming arm around my elbow way back upthread. I had indeed had the red mist come down, and I owe RobF an apology for that.

I figured out pretty quickly it was better all round if I had a weekend off RR.

Cheers everyone.

tincanman said...

Don't forget too Darce that there's many others here who feel they make excellent suggestions that get dismissed out of hand. treefrog and Toffee spring instantly to mind. Absolutely nothing inferior about their taste, they just nom a lot from a genre that doesn't click with the gurus.
A lot of my Americana songs are well respected in those circles but greeted with silence here, which is fine; I accept that's the way it is. I could never blame bad guru decisions though - that'd be telling people who are listed that my taste is superior and they don't really deserve to be there. (Although I'm sure that's not what you meant to say)

DarceysDad said...

@ tin (& anyone else still reading),

I've had an excellent email from PaulMac, in which he rightly admonished me for what he politely referred to as my "tone", but also said he has taken on board my points about those genres under-represented in the AtoZ.

Yet again, I owe him, and RobF, a conciliatory pint, should we ever meet.